From Roatan to Verizon

So the lessons keep coming. As I got ready to leave Roatan on Saturday morning I had it all planned out. Fly into Miami, get through customs, board the plane to Philly and be in church for Sunday morning. Pretty simple, pretty easy, and looking at the tickets in my hand it was all going to work out perfectly.

Ronny’s phone went off about 10 minutes before we left the condo. “Hey Dan, your flight has been delayed by an hour.” Not the best news…but we still had time to make everything work according to the master plan. Sitting in the airport at Roatan it was pretty clear the hour delay was a guestimate…not anything firm.

We finally boarded to head off to Miami…this was going to be close…but I was confident we could do this. Our plane had this really neat, anxiety inducing, feature on it. There was a 3-D map of your flight which would scroll the current time at your destination, the time till you reached your destination, and the expected time you would reach the destination. You could literally sit there and watch the minutes fade away as the pilot forgot how to push the throttle and let us get lapped by a bunch of penguins (yes, I am aware penguins do not fly…my point exactly). As we approached Miami we were going to be landing within minutes of the time our next flight would start boarding…this was going to be tight…but we could do it…I was optimistic.

“Hello, this is your captain speaking. There appears to be a slight backup here in Miami, so we are going to hang out here for a little while as the traffic clears out, then we will land.” I sat and watched the 3-D screen as the plane did circles out over the ocean. We finally landed. Rushed like crazy through the airport. Were directed to multiple customs lines. I was beginning to have compassion for cows, if this is what it feels like to be herded everywhere you go I am not a fan and stand united with our bovine friends. Ultimately we missed our flight. Could not get another till Sunday morning. Spent a night in a great hotel. Paid $15 for a bowl of mac and cheese…who knew. Sunday morning we were up and at the airport early and made our way home. Things were back the way they should be.

This morning I allowed myself to sleep in a little. I got up and went to the office, all set and ready to go. I had a list of things to do. The Administrative Assistant said, “Would you like a list of all the things I need from you today?” Monica is awesome…she is on top of things the way I need her to be…my day just got busier. I sat down in my chair, turned on my computer…NO INTERNET! My calendar, planning, everything is out in the cloud somewhere…useless to me at this point. After fighting for 30 minutes to get logged on it was time to talk to Verizon. Call the manager…the two of us frustrated (he with me for not being happy with his service and product) (me because I would be better off with a pen and paper despite all their adds to the contrary). Half and hour later I say goodbye to the manager and am calling another number. It is at this point I remember that just 48 hours ago I was on Roatan…can I go back? Finally a voice on the other end of the phone…we do a couple useless, meaningless things to prove we have issues. (It took me 45 minutes to log onto facebook today!) In the middle of one of the tests the internet drops out as it is accustomed to do these days…”Huh, well I guess we better get a tech out there.” Using all my power I resist the urges that are welling up inside me at this point. All the sarcastic, less than uplifting comments are censored (or at least not uttered) and we set up the appointment.

Sitting in my office which is devoid of internet…which means I cannot print to the copy machine…I wonder why I am there…maybe I should go back to Roatan. Then I remember the lesson…peace, quiet, rest in the midst of chaos…“Oh well, it will happen when it happens.” I get up from my chair…walk into the daycare and there is a table of young kids having snack. I pull up a chair and we “talk” for a few minutes over graham crackers and juice. One boy lets out a laugh that makes you smile no matter what is going on. After a few minutes it is time to return to the office.

Walking down the hallway I can’t help but ask myself, “Where would Jesus have been all day?” My sense is that he would have forgotten about Verizon and their intermittent internet service and sat with those young kids, teaching them about his Father and how to love God with all their heart mind, soul and strength and to love their graham cracker stealing neighbor as themselves.

Abba Father, help me see you in the midst of every day, every moment, every interaction…even those with the Verizon representatives.